


The Red Mountain

by sororexitium



Series: Dragon-Kin [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Centaurs, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tony Stark is a Dragon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-11 10:08:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7887007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sororexitium/pseuds/sororexitium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He takes a deep breath, listing a little bit closer to his dragon when he hears the sound of hooves beating against damp earth in the distance. Steve turns his head, curious to hear of any horses, wild or not, in dragon territory. His brow furrows as the sounds get louder, and his own feet come to a stop even though Tony tries to keep walking. “Horses? Here?”</p>
<p>He turns his head to Tony, confused.</p>
<p>Tony just sighs and rolls his eyes so hard it almost hurts Steve’s head to watch. “No, pet. Not horses.” Steve jerks his head around when something flashes out of the corner of his eye, the hoof beats louder against the damp earth, almost like they’re surrounding them. Tony doesn’t tense up, not that he really ever does, so Steve doesn’t reach for his shield that he wears on his back. He isn’t exactly a fan of being surrounded, but Tony won’t let anything happen to him. Of that he’s sure.</p>
<p>His dragon squeezes his fingers gently between his own, turning his head. Steve follows his gaze, eyes widening when he sees the creatures running towards them. “Centaurs…”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So...I'm really in love with this series. If only for the fact that I love turning the characters into different species. OMG. It's like the best thing! I'm attacking these poor guys and gals and they can't escape my magic and madness.

The Shadow Mountains are not nearly as…formidable as Steve might have once thought them. When he was young and the sickness was at its worst, Bucky would always sneak into his room with sweets and hot teas. He’d crawl up on the bed with him the way children always do and he’d share the gossip he’d heard while he was out wreaking havoc on the castle. No one ever paid notice to him unless he was underfoot, no one but Steve and his mother anyway, so he’d always have the best stories and some of the naughtiest.

Bucky told tales of the frozen lands to the farthest north far could go, the creatures that lived there, giant and unyielding. He whispered of the great, golden cities of Asgard. With great swoops of his arms, he regaled Steve with stories of the bird people from the southern lands in the Riley Forest. He recounted tales of travelers who’d dared to enter the enchanted Stark Mountain without a guide. But the most terrifying of all had been the Shadow Mountains.

The name itself inspires fear. At least he used to think so. He’d been sure that the entire range would be covered in black storm clouds and lightning would crash while thunder roared. He pictured great monsters to guard the edges, dark shadowy things with red eyes that would snap a lost traveler up as soon as grant them any sort of passage into the mountains.

That’s not what he sees when Tony tells him that they’re reaching the range in his great, grumbling natural tongue befitting a beast of his size. For one, it looks like the Stark Mountains for the most part…maybe taller? A little barer, it seems. There’s not near as much green racing up the sides of the mountains and Steve can’t see any little towns or markets that dot around the Stark Mountains. It doesn’t look different at all and he’s almost a little disappointed about that.

“Why do they call them the Shadow Mountains?” Steve yells over the rush of air as they touch down on the ground. Tony tells him he doesn’t have to. That even when they’re in the air he can hear him just fine. Steve always thanks him, but it’s mostly for his own sake that he yells so much. Sometimes, he can’t hear himself and he wants to be sure he’s actually saying something instead of having it lost in the cool winds. He leans further over Tony’s back, his body having become accustomed to flying with Tony like this. “They don’t look very…shadowy. And I thought you said your friend lived in the Red Mountain. There’s nothing red about any of these mountains.”

Tony looks over his wing, one dark eye visibly glittering with amusement the way it always does when he’s in his human skin. Sometimes Steve doesn’t understand what a dragon, who’s flown or can fly anywhere he wants, see all the people he wants, take anyone as his consort, but has chosen a sickly shut in like him. He knows very little about the world when compared to Tony. He knows politics, strategy, wars and history, things he can learn from a book, but nothing like his great crimson and gold dragon.

Steve takes their packs and his shield and stands with surer footing than yesterday as he walks down the thick muscle of his wing and hops the last few feet to the ground below. It’s still been less than a year since Tony took him for his consort, but the worst of the winter months have passed and he can feel the strength from his dragon flowing into him every day. His stamina lasts longer. His bones don’t feel so wintery. And while he may never be as strong as Bucky or some of the other knights he’d grown up with, he’s retained some muscle.

He takes a few steps back from his dragon, letting him have room to somehow hide all of that leather and scale within a strong, but nonetheless human form. It’s fascinating to watch, and Steve does, unabashedly even while he roots around in their pack for Tony’s clothes. He’s never sure which is more interesting to him; the change into the beast or back into Steve’s lover. Either way, it is usually only about a thirty second process, wings returning back to arms, legs reforming and scales sinking back into his smooth skin or vice versa.

“The Red Mountain is named after the red grass that grows around it,” Tony says, keeping up with the conversation without issue as he comes to grab his pants from Steve. “It only grows red in the spring months though, so we won’t see it this trip, chilly as it is with the late winter. As for where the Shadow Mountains got their name…”

There he smiles secretively. Steve both loves and hates that knowing little twist of his lips. It’s so playful and soft around the edges and he adores that softness. He gets to see a lot of when they’re alone, but sometimes when they go out to the market together or the few times Tony offers to take him along to the Dragon Council meetings, the smiles always become deadly and sharp. Tony doesn’t really have much trust for others, including his own family.

Steve can’t yet tell if that’s because he’s so different from his kin, or something deeper.

“You’ll just have to see for yourself later how the Shadow Mountains came by their name,” Tony says mysteriously and Steve can’t help but roll his eyes, tossing his shirt at his head. His dragon only snickers, slipping his arms into the ornately embroidered sleeves.

“You’re supposed to share your knowledge with me, not keep me in the dark,” Steve chastises, once Tony is completely dressed, cloak around his shoulders and boots on his feet. Still, even getting onto him as he is, he doesn’t hesitate once to take his hand, their fingers lacing together as they begin their trek. “I feel like there’s so much I still don’t know and you’re supposed to be a good dragon and inform me of everything I was sheltered from in the keep.”

Tony chuckles at his ranting, but does little else. He doesn’t even have the decency to even appear admonished. Instead, he smiles. “And I do. I told you about the reasoning behind the Red Mountain’s name. But somethings need to be experienced. Such as why the Shadow Mountains are named as such.”

“You could do both,” Steve points out.

“Stubborn ‘til the very end. Has anyone ever told you that?” Tony smiles as he says it though, so he can’t be too put out by Steve’s unwillingness to let this lie.

He nods. “Yes. You did. This morning before we took flight.” He’s rather proud of that if anyone cares to ask.

Tony doesn’t tell him anymore about the Shadow Mountains though and Steve lets the entire thing rest in favor or watching his step. Even with just a few inches of snow on the ground, he knows better than to walk through an enchanted forest or mountain range without keeping a weather eye out. Tony doesn’t let his hand go as they travel at a noticeable incline, something Steve is used to now after the last several months in the Stark Mountains, but he still wishes horses weren’t quite so unnerved by Tony.

He takes a deep breath, listing a little bit closer to his dragon when he hears the sound of hooves beating against damp earth in the distance. Steve turns his head, curious to hear of any horses, wild or not, in dragon territory. His brow furrows as the sounds get louder, and his own feet come to a stop even though Tony tries to keep walking. “Horses? Here?”

He turns his head to Tony, confused.

Tony just sighs and rolls his eyes so hard it almost hurts Steve’s head to watch. “No, pet. Not horses.” Steve jerks his head around when something flashes out of the corner of his eye, the hoof beats louder against the damp earth, almost like they’re surrounding them. Tony doesn’t tense up, not that he really ever does, so Steve doesn’t reach for his shield that he wears on his back. He isn’t exactly a fan of being surrounded, but Tony won’t let anything happen to him. Of that he’s sure.

His dragon squeezes his fingers gently between his own, turning his head. Steve follows his gaze, eyes widening when he sees the creatures running towards them. “Centaurs…”

Steve’s mouth falls open, eyes wide. He’s heard of them, everyone with ears has heard of them. Anyone and everyone seems to know of someone who met one centaur or centauride somewhere on their travels. But he’s never met anyone who’d seen any member of the centaur clans, let alone spoke to them. He watches them as they form a loose circle around Tony and himself, awe building up inside him uncontrollably.

“Tony…” one of them says. Steve would guess him to be the leader. He certainly looks the largest and most ominous of anyone in the clan. He’s massive, much bigger than Steve ever would have imagined. Just at his withers, he’s taller than any horse Steve has ever laid eyes on. To say nothing of the powerful torso and arms of the centaur’s upper half, and the rather intimidating eyepatch over one eye. He comes closer to them, shadows and weak winter sun light playing on his dark skin and sooty chestnut hide. When the centaur is closer, he looks down at Tony with a sternness. “We haven’t seen you around in quite some time.”

Steve glances at his dragon, trying to gauge how this is going to go, if he should worry or not. No doubt the centaurs can be ruthless, especially in these numbers. But Tony looks just as at ease as he always is. He hasn’t even put up the mask he might otherwise wear when others are around.

Instead, he shrugs, a smirk on his lips. “Aw, Fury, I haven’t been invited out here in a while. D’you miss me?”

The centaur, Fury, if Tony isn’t just making names up again, like he is often wont to do, just snorts, shaking his head. There’s amusement on his stern face though, a slight smile that betrays fondness. Steve is relieved to know that there is no animosity here and more so that Tony may have more friends than he’d let on about. “I miss you like a fish misses air. What are you even doing here? Don’t you have your own mountains to terrorize? And who exactly is your new friend?”

Fury looks pointedly at Steve, as if to say he knows exactly who he is, but is unimpressed by Tony’s rudeness.

Tony grins, as if he’d only been waiting for this chance and it warms Steve more than he can say when Tony answers the last question like it’s the most important. “ _This_ is Steven Rogers of Brooklyn,” he all but gloats, as if Steve is anything to gloat about. Almost as soon as he thinks it though, there’s a general commotion, chatter among the clan of centaurs. “ _The_ Steven Rogers of Brooklyn, son of Sarah Rogers, hitherto heir to the throne, and the master strategist behind the defeat of the mad wizard, Red Skull.”

Steve jerks his head around to give his dragon an incredulous look, wondering what the hell Tony’s on about. Tony just returns his look with a small smile.

“And, lastly, but certainly not least important, my consort,” Tony finishes, but the words are mostly lost on any of the centaurs who aren’t as close as Fury is. The clan is very eagerly going back and forth with one another, glancing at Steve with something akin to amazement.

Fury shakes his head, an exasperated look upon his face as his clan lean into each other. When his eyes settle on Steve, there’s commiseration in his eyes, like he knows exactly what Steve is up against dealing with Tony. He steps forward, leaning a little closer to Steve and muttering just loud enough to be heard, “My condolences to your sanity.”

Steve mutters back just as quickly, too confused to feel any sort of elation at the fact that he is actually speaking with a centaur. “I honestly have no idea what he’s doing right now.”

“Well, to me, it sounds like he’s showing you off,” Fury says with some amusement, one eye focusing on him with a considerable intensity that Steve doesn’t often feel but definitely doesn’t shrink away from. “And with good reason.”

He shakes his head as politely as he can, feeling a blush spread across his cheeks and promising to himself that he will get Tony for this later. He doesn’t know how yet, but he’ll think of something. He has no idea where this came from, the idea that he’d somehow been instrumental in the defeat of the Red Skull. He’d been holed up in the war room for most of it, yes, and he’d helped make some plans but he would definitely not say he’s a master strategist or imply that he’d been key to really any part of taking defeating the mad wizard.

“There are many who have heard from reputable sources that it was you who came up with the plan to let him into the keep. To give him the impression that he’d won and then use his own crystal against him to defeat him,” Fury says, and Steve feels his heart speed up, because no one was really supposed to know that outside the keep. His mother had been furious with his idiocy. He’d held the cold fury of that blue glowing crystal in his bones for weeks to come and the effects had followed him all the way into the summer weeks. He lifts his eyes when Fury speaks again. “Bravery and cunning is something centaurs find very admirable and yet shines in so few. You have quite a following here.”

Steve looks over to his dragon who had wandered off at some point as he usually does when Steve doesn’t pay attention. Tony is speaking to another centaur and a centauride, both fair of skin. He hadn’t told Tony about what happened in the keep. Which means that some knight somewhere, who probably has the nickname Dum Dum, started telling stories in the taverns. Next time he sees that man, he’s gonna yank off that ridiculous moustache as payment. That entire afternoon is not one of his best memories and he doesn’t exactly want it well-known.

“That wasn’t exactly supposed to get spread around,” Steve grouses, frowning a little. Tony might say that he’s pouting, but Tony doesn’t really get a vote when he’s busy talking to other centaurs. “It isn’t exactly one of my best memories.”

“Anyone who says they remember a moment of bravery with fondness is either lying…or a little touched by madness,” Fury says, his insight not exactly surprising. Centaurs are known for being wise, after all. It just seems more understanding than he expected to hear from someone else. Even from his own friends, the knights who guarded him and his mother. He’s felt alone in the experience. Fury somehow dulls that feeling a little. “They don’t admire you because you liked doing what you did. They admire you because you did it anyway.”

Steve cranes his neck up, a crooked smile on his face. It’s not as full as it could be, but it’s more than he would have expected talking about one of the worst days of his life. “Thanks, sir. I’m gonna go…” he points his thumb over in the direction of his dragon-kin.

“Oh, please do. Before he gets it into his head to try coercing my clan away from me again.” As he says it, he gives Steve a droll but amused look, that fondness still there. He gets the feeling that there are quite a few stories to be had about Tony’s shenanigans with this clan of centaurs.

Then again, Tony has stories everywhere they go and they always seem to come with longsuffering fondness and reluctant comradery. 

The centaur Tony is speaking with has blue roan coloring, while the centauride is more of amber dun. They’re both unfairly impressive, in a way that’s akin to his dragon and yet so completely different. Interestingly enough, though, when they look at him, they’re the ones who seem just a little awestruck. It makes him feel just a little bit awkward as he reaches out to his dragon and pinches the living daylights out of his side.

It probably gives him just a little bit too much satisfaction to watch Tony yelp and crumple away from his boney fingers, one hand automatically going out to smack at Steve’s. He jerks away a good three feet, a pout on his face as he shields his side. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the centauride lean into her companion, murmuring, “Oh, I like him even more now.”

Her words are quickly drowned out by an indignant Tony, though. “By all that is good and questionable! What was that for?”

“For showing me off like a prize,” Steve says succinctly. He has plans to interrogate him later on just how he came to find out about that terrifying day in the tower, but they can wait until later.

“I was introducing you! Like a good Dragon Lord might!” Tony pouts. Tony pouts far more than Steve ever does. He will have that known. It still softens the bit of irritability he feels toward Tony. His intentions are always kind in nature. They just don’t always come out the way that he wants them to.

He sighs, closing the small gap between them and pulling Tony down for a kiss. “Just Steve, your consort would have sufficed, Tony,” he says, still cupping his jaw and stroking his thumb gently against the bristles of his goatee, well-groomed as it always is. “I understand that you care about me without all the fanfare.”

“That may be,” Tony murmurs in response. “But I like it when people are aware just how impressive you are. You pack a helluva spirit into that small body of yours. I like people to know that right from the beginning.”

Tony grins then, happy and bright and Steve wants to stay embarrassed and clarify the fact that he doesn’t want that sort of attention on him. He’ll do that later. He can’t very well begrudge Tony for doting. They might just have to figure out a different way for Tony to dote. For now, he just shakes his head and tries to suppress his own smile.

“You’re a menace. You know that, right?”

Tony laughs, but kisses him again, quick but affectionate. “Yes. You told me this morning before we took flight,” he tells him, words mirroring those Steve had told him earlier. “Come now. Coulson and Hill are very interested in meeting you. Coulson has even offered his services as our guide.”

“Do we need a guide?” Steve asks, a little concerned but overall not too worried about it. He’s sure his dragon knows exactly where they’re going. It is his friends they’re visiting and Tony is very good with maps. His sense of direction may be a little skewed sometimes, but where he falters in that, Steve more than makes up for it.

“Not necessarily,” Tony reassures him. “But we will have to make camp tonight and start again in early morning.” He makes a face at that, one Steve recognizes as his ‘I’m so done with nature right now’ face. “He just wants to make sure I don’t find any trouble. And possibly make moon eyes at you.”

Steve raises his brow at that, but Tony just shrugs like it’s just a matter of fact. The dragon-kin slings his arm over his shoulder and brings them back around to the centaurs who’d been politely ignoring them, murmuring to each other very seriously. Steve doesn’t hesitate to put his arm around him in return, falling in step beside him with ease and leeching some of his warmth for himself.

The centaurs Tony had been talking to turn as it becomes apparent his and Tony’s private conversation is over. They both offer a variation of a smile, small, contained. Steve wonders if it’s a centaur thing. He may ask later when they bunk down for the night. After all, if Coulson is going to be accompanying them to Natasha’s mountain, he may as well learn as much as he can.

He bows his greeting, showing his respect to the two of them. “You must be Hill,” he says, smiling toward the centauride and she inclines her head to him, looking pleased. He turns his attention to the centaur, still smiling. “And Coulson. I hear you’ll be guiding us up the Red Mountain. I’m thrilled to have you with us. Before we go, though…can you tell me why this range is called the Shadow Mountains?”

He smirks when Tony rolls his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit more centaur stuff. I've got more on their culture, but its really kind of hard to get all of that information into a coherent story. So, have bits and pieces.

Steve and Tony don’t stay long with the centaurs, though Steve admits that he’d happily spend an entire week with them just so he could learn everything about them. He’s heard so much in stories, but time with his dragon has taught him that stories aren’t always what they’re made out to be. He wants to talk to them all. He wants to know all of Fury’s secrets, and learn about their culture from Hill, and figure out everywhere Coulson has been. There’s just so much that he wants to know.

Luckily, as Tony said, Coulson has offered his services as a guide up the Red Mountain. Steve is sure that his dragon could guide them up easily, but he certainly won’t protest the insight into a centaur clan. Not when he’s been so curious about them for so long. Ever since he was a child, there’s been a curiosity about them, their clans, how they always seem to be everywhere, and know so much. Some people fantasized about mages, or elves, the frozen giants up in the most northern parts of the north. But he’d always been fascinated by centaurs.

Coulson, it seems is all too happy to answer any of his questions so long as Steve answers all of his. Their guide is just as curious about him if not more so, interested in his young life, in his mother, the guards Steve had become friends with in his time and, his best friend, Bucky. He never loses composure as he takes them up the mountain, calm and sure footed, but there’s a certain exuberance about him. Especially with his words, and the way he kind of gushes.

“So, it is true. You did join your people for a brief time at your city walls?” Coulson asks, the low sun breaking through the limbs of the large trees by this time.

Steve shrugs. By this time having become somewhat accustomed to the way Coulson seems focused on the battle the Red Skull waged against Brooklyn. He’s explained as much of it as he’s comfortable with over the afternoon, hedging where he wants, especially in regards to his final confrontation with the mad wizard. Coulson doesn’t push, in fact, seems far too happy to talk about the tactics and strategies he’d helped his generals and knights plan out. He tries to make sure that the others understand that it was hardly just him, which Tony understands even if he still looks quite proud.

“Yeah, for a little while before the second siege started. No one would let me stay out there long. The soldiers basically let me stay just long enough to tell them the plan and then they all kind of shooed me back to the keep,” Steve explains, hand reaching out for Tony’s offered forearm as he climbs over a larger log.

The shadows are getting longer, the sun is sinking. They’ll have to make camp soon, even with two expert guides. He knows he won’t be able to keep going once night falls completely around them. Despite Tony’s strength growing within him, his sight isn’t all that great. The different shades of darkness become almost indiscernible to him after a certain time and he starts tripping all over himself.

He already knows that Tony has started looking for suitable camping sites, but his dragon is picky about where they bunk down for the night, even when they fly over the vastness of the plains. His dragon doesn’t like camping to begin with, so he tends to search for only the best patches of land to bunk down in.

Coulson easily hops the log, hooves beating rhythmically against the snow dusted grounds. “It’s still quite impressive that you would do so. There aren’t many high-borns who would venture out of the safety of their barricaded homes to even relay a message. There are many kings and lords who willingly ride to battle if it is against other humans they face, but few have ever gone to face a wizard head on, let alone the mad wizard. Many would rather have pledged their allegiance to him in fear for their lives.”

“Can’t really blame them. Everyone wants to live and they’ll pay any price to keep their people and loved ones safe,” Steve says, knowing that from experience. “Can’t say it always works, but fear is a powerful motivator. In the face of a mad man who’d wipe an entire country off the map, most might think it wiser to give him what he wants. Ma and I are just stubborn.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘stubborn’ is the proper word for what you and your mother did, Steve,” Coulson says.

“I would,” Tony slips in, sending Steve a small, fond smile.

Coulson glares at him for his interruption. Steve has learned that centaurs are very polite and respectful, and interrupting them can have some dirty looks and possibly some consequences if it were anyone other than Tony. “Much the way I wouldn’t say that what the other sovereign leaders did was cowardly. You’re right. Anyone would want to keep their people safe. It’s not stubbornness or cowardice that matters. It’s the will to do what’s right.”

Steve heard much the same thing from Fury even a few hours ago, but it still makes his cheeks heat a little even as his dragon snarks, “You sound like a bad minstrel.”

Coulson gives Tony yet another unimpressed look, but there’s something in his eyes that says he expects no less from the dragon-kin. Steve certainly doesn’t. It’s part of Tony’s charm, the way he teases and pesters. Steve often suspects it is how his dragon shows he cares.

Steve shakes his head at the two of them, a small smile on his lips. He should redirect the conversation, away from Tony’s lack of couth and away from his own past. He still has so many questions to ask Coulson and he doesn’t know when he has to return to his clan after he’s lead them to Natasha’s home.

He looks up, Coulson just as tall as Fury had been, which is to say: far taller than Steve. He, like all of his other centaur and centauride clan, carries a shield across his back, a short sword tucked into a sheathe. The shield is what has been getting his attention, though. It is round, like his own, but made of some sort of dark gray wood. It has the insignia of some sort of bird burned into the center.

It’s a not so subtle reminder that he is a warrior.

He runs up a few steps to match Coulson’s pace, which even slow as he seems to be going, is a longer gait than Steve has. “Will you tell me about the Code of Shield?” he asks, because it’s one of the few questions he hasn’t actually gotten to yet.

Coulson lights up just a little. Not too much. Steve is coming to believe that the centaurs don’t quite emote the way other creatures do. Which is fine, because even seeming muted, Steve can see the emotions that sparkle in the centaur’s gray eyes. “We usually just call it Shield, but I’ll tell you anything you wish to know.”

Steve smiles at the answer he’s received from Coulson every time he asks a question. He looks over his shoulder at Tony, who seems to be sight-seeing, their pack slung over his shoulder. Tony knows all of this, Steve is sure, but as his dragon had told him, some things need to be experienced for himself. This is definitely one of those things.

“Are all centaurs a part of…Shield?” It doesn’t seem right coming off his own tongue, feels like he’s missing something about the word.

Coulson doesn’t have anything to say about it though. The centaur just shakes his head. “No. Not all centaurs are part of Shield. That would be like saying that all humans are part of an army. Shield is a united system of intelligence gathering and defensive coordination. It’s a lot of work. Some centaurs don’t wish to be part of a watch like that. Just as some who are not centaurs are part of the watch.”

“So…anyone can be in Shield?” Steve asks, genuinely curious. “How come I didn’t know that?”

“It’s not common knowledge,” Coulson assures. “But yes, anyone can be a part. Allies are few and far between for us. We could always use more help. And since his dragonship has refused to be of any help…”

Tony pipes up from behind them, “It’s not like you have an overwhelming need for my services. My father is already part of your secret club. I don’t know why you need both of us.”

Steve silently thinks it’s because Tony’s father is a bit of an ass, but he doesn’t say as much as he looks back over his shoulder to see his dragon munching on something he hopefully pulled from their pack. Tony doesn’t much like to talk about his father and he definitely doesn’t like being in the same room with him for more than about an hour at a time.

They settle down for camp shortly after the colors fade from the sky, leaving them under a starry black canvas. Coulson finds a small clearing for them to make a fire in and tells them there’s a hot spring just a little bit to the east. Tony barely gets the fire going for them before he’s dragging Steve off toward the spring, carefully guiding him through the darkening trees and detritus until Steve eventually hears the trickle and bubble of water.

“Do I really smell so terrible that you have to get me into water as quickly as possible?” Steve asks as they come to a halt. He can only just see the outline of his dragon-kin, the stars and moon just bright enough for Tony to be cast in the dim silver light through all the trees. It gives him an even stronger allure than usual and makes Steve’s heart skip a beat.

He may be biased, but he thinks he may have been lucky enough to have been stolen by the most handsome dragon in all the lands.

He struggles out of his boots, holding on to Tony as he does so until his bare feet land against semi-frozen earth. He curses, hopping around until Tony is moving him again. The dead grass and dirt taper out into something far firmer and infinitely warmer, Tony grumbling good naturedly.

“Hardly has anything to do with how you smell, pet, although if you’d like the truth, you are smelling a little on the ripe side.” He squawks a little when Steve pinches his nipple through his shirt, smacking at his hand with a small growl. “You know, for a man who can’t see well at night, you have an uncanny ability to find those.”

Steve grins up at him, smug and pleased as he moves his fingers to tug at the ties of Tony’s cloak. It doesn’t take much for the fur and thickly woven wool to fall away from his shoulders. “I have a very intimate knowledge of your body in the dark. Lots of practice is finally paying off.”

Tony wraps his arm around him with a low chuckle that sends shivers up Steve’s spine. In a moment, his dragon’s lips covers his own, heated and fierce as Tony always is. Steve makes a soft noise of approval, yanking at the ties of his own cloak, letting it fall to stone under his feet now that Tony has them pressed so close together. His dragon-kin could easily keep him warm in any weather. He’d put money on Tony being able to protect him from the most northern cold.

They make short work of undressing, helping each other out of their shirts and then stripping themselves out of their trousers. Tony grabs his ass, holding him close, skin pressed against skin. Steve can already feel Tony getting hard against him, which is more than fine with him because he feels his own arousal curling inside him.

He nips at Tony’s lower lip, stepping away from him and demanding softly. “Lead me to the spring, Tony.”

His dragon-kin drags his hand up from his back toward his hair, pulling him in for one more kiss before taking him to the pool. Tony steps in first, being as he’s the one who can see almost perfectly even in the dark, and he helps Steve in next, practically picking him up to make sure he doesn’t slip. The warm water envelopes him all the way to his waist and he sighs, pushing himself into Tony’s space again, biting his lower lip.

He feels the scrape of Tony’s goatee against his tongue and lips. His hot hands dragging warm water up Steve’s back. The cold air against his trails of water make his shiver, but it seems to make the experience that much more electric.

There would have been a time, just months ago, Steve wouldn’t have been able to even stand getting into a hot spring during spring or fall, forget completely anything to do with winter, the late months or not. He’d have been freezing, shivering his skin away, worried about the sickness that always lurked in his bones, and likely sinking up to his neck in the water to keep himself from freezing to his core.

Now, he can’t be bothered to care nearly as much. He hasn’t been sick once this winter and right now there’s the very pressing matter of their erections and what they plan to do to about them. Steve has ideas, having learned several different ways he and his dragon-kin could pleasure each other. He has his favorites, but none of them seem really practical here.

Steve groans as Tony moves his mouth away, trailing a lazy path down his neck. His hips take on a will of their own, rolling easily against him. It makes Tony chuckle. He always seems to take some amount of enjoyment in Steve’s eagerness, as if his youthful tenacity amuses him. At some point in their relationship, Steve might have blushed or snapped at him in embarrassment, but he knows Tony isn’t making fun of him.

“You seem to want something, my pet,” Tony murmurs against his skin, mouth clamping down over his pulse, sucking a mark onto his skin that won’t easily be hidden.

The sensation rolls through Steve, making him feel boneless and his fingers sink into Tony’s hair and holding on to him and pulling him impossible closer. His head tilts on its own, giving him more room to claim and mark. “Like you didn’t have this in mind the moment you found out about this hot spring…”

Tony hums, another amused sound that betrays the truth in Steve’s words. His dragon is just as insatiable as Steve is, himself, and is entirely unrepentant about it.

He turns Steve around, laying him out against the smooth edge that’s just as warm as the water held in the basin. His skin bursts into goose bumps, a shiver rolling up his spine as a gust of cold air rushes over his wet skin. It doesn’t last long, Tony crawling over him, kissing along his chest, leaving a hot trail from his collar bones down to his navel.

Steve’s fingers lace in his dragon’s thick hair again, holding on as Tony nips his less prominent hipbones. He takes his slow time teasing, actively ignoring Steve’s straining cock. He makes it his mission to wind Steve up like it’s his only purpose in life. Tony continuously pushes the boundaries of his stamina and his patience, stringing him out thinner and thinner until he’s sure he’ll lose his mind.

It’s an absolute relief when Tony wraps his calloused fingers around him, the water still clinging to the sensitive skin easing the friction just a little and it’s perfect. Tony always knows just how to touch him, how to make his back arch with pleasure and his mind slip away. He focuses on his dragon’s tongue still tracing designs across his hips, his hand slowly stroking his cock.

Like this is good. Really, anyway Tony can think to touch him is good and he’ll never be anything less than satisfied when they’re done. But Tony makes it pretty damn spectacular when he wraps his lips around him, heat searing through him, chasing away the cold around them. It’s like they aren’t even outside and if it weren’t for the fact that every time Steve’s head falls back he sees tree tops and inky black skies, he’d forget they are.

He gasps, hips jerking up as his dragon’s hot tongue drags along the underside of his cock, gentle suction making him shiver all over again. Tony doesn’t try to hold him down, lets him thrust into his mouth, humming around him until Steve feels ready to fall to pieces. He knows he’s close, feels the tension coiling inside him so tight just one push…

Tony moves his hand down, taking his sac in his hands and rolling.

Steve’s done for in a moment, his body going tight as he comes. Tony never stops the suction, swallowing everything Steve has to offer with little sounds of approval that are mostly lost on him. Steve tightens his hand in his hair, giving a soft tug to pull Tony up again. He’s trembling and a little uncoordinated after his finish, but he still kisses his dragon with all passion he can muster, humming at the taste of himself on Tony’s lips.

When they pull apart, hand going down to push at his shoulders, Steve mumbles, “Your turn.”

Tony stays where he is, though, shaking his head. “That’s not gonna be a problem, pet. I took care of myself. I can multitask.” He says it with a little grin on his face, kissing Steve’s chin as his hand sweeps up Steve’s side. He pulls him back into his arms, stepping back to slip into the pool so they can wash.

“Well, that’s not fair,” Steve says even as he smiles and sinks back into the water, all the way up to his chin. He feels like he can see Tony a little bit better now, but he’s not sure if that’s a trick of his imagination, or if the moon is suddenly brighter. Either way, he can see the small smile growing on his dragon’s face. “What if I wanted to go down on you?

That makes Tony laugh. “There’s still plenty of time. But, I’m not sure if you remember, we have a guide who’s just a little bit obsessed with you, and I didn’t exactly want him to stumble upon us having our wicked ways with each other.”

“Quiet! He’s not obsessed with me!” Steve chastises but the way he’s still smiling probably takes away the edge of it. “He’s just curious. Besides, it’s your fault for introducing me the way you did.”

“Steve, I could have introduced you as my sex-slave and they would still know you as the former Prince of Brooklyn.” Steve raises his eyebrow at that, tilting his head and Tony amends quickly. “Not that I would ever introduce you as such. The point is: I’m lucky we’ve bonded to each other or I have a feeling Coulson might actually try to abscond with you while I was asleep tonight.”

He tilts his head back, laughing loudly as he splashes water at his dragon. Honestly, Tony is such a cad sometimes. He doesn’t know how he ever could have thought he was anything like the rest of his kin. From their very first meeting, Tony has been so drastically different from anything he’s ever heard about the dragon-kin. “You’re a menace, Lord Dragon Anthony.”

“And you’re amazing, even if you refuse to see it for yourself,” Tony returns just as quickly, gliding through the water to kiss him again swiftly.

They stay close together for a long moment, just sharing a quiet moment together. It doesn’t last long. Quiet never lasts long with Tony around, something he finds comforting more often than not. Although, it leans closer to the ‘not’ side when Tony asks with a cheeky little grin, “Does this mean I’m off the hook for my actions this afternoon?”

Steve rolls his eyes, splashing water at him again. “Not even a little.”

When they’re washed and dressed again, they make their way back to camp where Coulson is tending the fire Tony had started with a large fallen branch. The centaur gives them a look like he knows exactly what Steve and Tony had been up to, but doesn’t say anything. Somehow, Steve still feels like he’s been caught red handed as he moves over to his sleeping pack.

He pulls off his boots, slipping under the blankets and furs and scooting close to the fire so Tony can slide in behind him. He lays down on his pack of clothes, his dragon curling protectively around him. He watches Coulson for a while, the fire flickering over his skin and blue roan coat. He seems to be settling down.

Coulson catches him looking and nods towards him.

“I’ll watch you sleep. I mean, I’ll keep watch over you. That is to say, centaurs don’t need sleep so I will make sure you’re safe.” Coulson shakes his head, rolling his eyes at himself presumably. “Sweet dreams.”

“Well spoken, Coulson,” Tony teases behind Steve, arm winding around his middle.

Coulson rolls his eyes yet again. “Go to sleep, Tony. I’ll see you in the morning.”

**Author's Note:**

> Still on Tumblr. Still no idea what I'm doing. Search my pen-name.


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